But it's fine silver.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, working on crosses in metal clay is delicate work.  I can't tell you how many pieces I have broken during the sanding process.  It's not so much sanding the edges but trying to sand the surface that I seem to have the most trouble.

This past week I was making a cross for a friend when I broke it three separate times.  Repairing metal clay in the dry state is fairly easy (as long as the edges line up.)  And, it's usually just as sturdy as if it hadn't broken.  The repairs went well...... until I dropped it.  It broke in two "different" places.  Once again, back to repairing it.  This time though I pasted it to a bigger cross to give it strength (and made my friend a new one.)

After firing the piece I added a patina.  Darn..... wouldn't you know it the patina came out a beautiful shade of blue. I decided to leave it (although it will continue to darken.)  The reason I say darn, is because fine silver is expensive and now it doesn't look like silver.  It looks like copper.  

Oh well, I like it and hopefully someone else will too. 

Oops, I did it again.

Awhile back I shared a post about some crosses I was  making and how one of the CZs I put in the cross had changed color.  In that post the CZ went from emerald green to a topaz color.  It still looked nice.

Today I did it again.  Only this time the CZ was "huge" (twenty dollars worth of huge.)  I was making another cross and pulled out a gorgeous blue topaz trillion.  I hadn't planned on using it in the cross but it was just so stunning sitting there in the middle.

I spent a long time creating the clay bezel, getting it just right and drilling into the cross so the CZ wouldn't sit up so high.  I held my tongue just right.  (Did four crosses and didn't break one.)  Everything was going so well.

I wish I had taken a picture before it went into the kiln.  The blue reminded me of that beautiful blue water in the Carribean.  (Maybe that's why I loved it so much.   I was thinking of keeping the cross for myself.)  I couldn't wait to see how it would look against the silver once it was fired and polished.

But..... I will never know.  Here's what I found when I opened the kiln door.

It's nice...... but $20 CZ nice...... I don't think so.  Maybe I'll just go in the corner and cry,

Crosses for Flat Stanley

My granddaughter sent me "Flat Stanley" to take around for a couple of weeks.  Flat Stanley is a story book character who is flat and can be sent through the mail.  Her second grade class at Mother of Sorrow's school in Murrysville is doing this project.  Tomorrow I'm sending him on to the next person on the list.

Since I was away, Stanley mostly spent his time in my studio.  I was trying to make up for lost time.  He saw me working on crosses.  I had several commissions to do crosses, both male and female crosses.  For some reason I have continued to work on them

 Crosses are actually a little difficult to make because they are thin and delicate.  (I can't begin to tell
you how many I broke during the sanding process.)  Not so much the bigger crosses for the guys, but the smaller ones for the ladies.  I usually make my pendants three cards thick but I made these five to
six cards thick so they would be sturdier (in the dry clay state.)

I took pictures of several of the new crosses, but they didn't turn out. Here's one of the pictures that did.
If I can get some other acceptable pictures I'll post them too.

Some have stones and some don't.  But they all have textures.

This year my roommate and I worked on making fine silver crosses out of the metal clay.

I made crosses once before, but never really spent the time focusing on a variety of crosses.  My goal was to make some crosses that would appeal to guys.  There are five of them finished so far, but I plan on making more.  I am really enjoying it.

Cindi was making a cross for herself, so it is more feminine.

Every time I make a cross I tend to use the same texture, a thick mass of tree branches.   For me it seems to fit the religious theme.  (The one in the lower left of course is the only one that doesn't use that texture. )  I was really pleased with the way they all turned out.  (Some of the designs are as planned and some of course took a different course.  As usual, my jewelry decided how it wanted to look........  I've learned to pay attention.)  

The CZ in the upper cross started out as an emerald green color.   Obviously it changed in the kiln.  This is only the second time I've had that happen and both times it was a green stone, although they were both different shades of green.  Now the stone is a deep reddish brown color.  Actually it's quite pretty but not what it was supposed to be.    

Four of them are going to hang on a braided leather necklace.  The cross in the upper right corner will hang on a piece of suede.  It has a hidden bail and needs a thinner cord.  

I'm looking forward to making more and playing with the cross theme some more.  Maybe making some feminine crosses too.  We'll see!